Smokin' with Cigarettes
"Smokin With Cigarettes" is the sixth episode of the third season of the Adult Swim original series The Boondocks. It aired on June 6, 2010. Plot The show begins with an interview with, a then 6-year old, pathologically rebellious Lamilton Taeshawn, where the interviewer asks him many questions about how he could have hurt people, where he replies that "It's fun to do bad things." The scene then changes 2 years later to an 8-year old Lamilton picking up Riley in his grandmother's SUV that he stole. Lamilton offers Riley a cigarette, saying "You smoke with cigawettes?" (with a "w" sound instead of an "r" sound). Riley, trying to respect his reputation as a "bad boy", accepts them, but is unable to actually smoke them with Lamilton's extremely reckless driving. Lamilton destroys many obstacles in his way, but the SUV comes to a stop when the car crashes upon impact with the ground after hitting a speed bump at a high speed. The police surround the vehicle, but lower their guns after seeing the driver and passenger were little children. Later, Granddad beats Riley senseless with his belt due to his bad behavior. Lamilton appears on the news and remarks again "It's fun to do bad things", to cover for his wrongdoings. Granddad tells him to stay away from Lamilton, but Riley opposes to it. Lamilton and his grandmother arrive at the Freeman home for an apology. Lamilton obviously makes up a fake apology, and the grandmother then tells his entire story to explain the reason he is juvenile (although the story is so long and boring, it puts everyone to sleep). Granddad then leads them out of the house, hoping to never see them again. A new story appears that says that Lamilton had beaten his grandmother for "not buying fried chicken for him." Soon after, Riley and Lamilton go on a spree of wreaking havoc on the people of the town. They drop objects over a bridge (such as a naked doll and a flaming bed) to disrupt traffic, causing many accidents; they also mowed down passing individuals with paint-guns containing a mixture of urine and hotsauce. Later, Lamilton wants to "do more bad things" but Riley is tired. Lamilton gets angry quickly, while Riley seems surprised by this outburst. Lamilton, in apology, offers for Riley to come over to his house and watch movies. The two begin watching violent R-rated movies that are very graphic. Riley is freaked out by them, and asks why Lamilton likes those kind of films. Lamilton replies that he thinks "hurting people is fun". Lamilton then shows Riley his grandmother's handgun that he stole that was originally for defense against burglars; he then remarks that he wants to do criminal things with it to rob people and to hurt them. Riley thinks the idea is crazy, and tries to leave, but he is blocked by Lamilton and put under the pressure of the gun. Dr. Doomis arrives at the house to inform Granddad to keep Riley away from Lamilton. He reveals that he has been attempting to lock Lamilton away for a long time. Dr. Doomis, who was the interviewer of at the beginning of the episode, remarks that he remembers Lamilton's blank expression on his face, that whatever was behind that blank face "wasn't human", and that he must be stopped. Riley returns later that night, traumatized. Granddad intends to scold him, but Riley openly states that what he did was horrible; he grounds himself and even promises to beat himself, leaving Huey and Granddad shocked. The two arrive at Mrs. Von Heusen's house that Lamilton wants to rob (against Riley's will, of course). A guard dog starts to bark startling Riley. Lamilton then shoots the dog. They run away and Riley asks why he had to kill the dog. Lamilton says the dog tried to "bite" him as an excuse, although the dog was chained and could not reach them. Riley calls him crazy, and parts from him. Dr. Doomis, who spied on them, tells the police, and Lamilton is arrested the next day. Dr. Doomis advises Riley about his arrest, and tells Riley he should have no worry, as Lamilton cannot bother him from "The System". Riley is worried though, as Lamilton will think that he told them. The next day, Riley is at school, but looks out the window constantly with the fear of Lamilton. Lamilton appears, with Riley's reaction of "Holy shit!", which gets him detention for swearing in class. Dr. Doomis calls the Freemans, advising them that Lamilton had gotten out of "The System", and they had to rush to save Riley. Huey then gets Granddad's shotgun, and Granddad asks to get the silver bullets and stake (which makes it known that Granddad thinks Lamilton is part werewolf, vampire or some other apparently evil, mystical character). Back at the school, Riley is released from detention, and sees Lamilton at his locker door, although he doesn't go to his school. Lamilton then threatens him with the gun after believing that Riley snitched on him. To save himself, Riley promises that he and Lamilton would go do bad things again, which causes Lamilton to back down. Riley then tackles him from behind and knocks the gun across the room. Riley picks up the gun and runs away to the roof of the school with Lamilton following him. At the roof, Riley throws the gun into the forest, and a fist fight then ensues there after. Ruckus (who takes the job of a janitor) awkwardly enters as the fight is taking place, stopping the battle momentarily remarking it's "just two niggas killin each otha', proceed." The fight continues with Riley getting the upper hand. Riley then knocks Lamilton off the edge while he tries to hold on to his hand, but Lamilton is and Riley says he is too fat and too heavy for him to hold. Lamilton apologizes and promises that he's sorry for trying to kill Riley, explaining it's because of his anger; he just doesn't want to die. Dr. Doomis, Huey, and Grandad finally reach the roof, Dr. Doomis then forces Riley to let go of Lamilton's hand, causing him to fall. He, however, does not die, but is significantly injured. Dr. Doomis then jumps from the roof on top of him, saying that Lamilton must die and it was his duty to destroy him and Lamilton begging for someone to find his grandmother and for Doomis to respect the 100-yard restraining order, thus Lamilton's claims to have total disregard for the law and his own well-being and shown to be false. Granddad, believing the conflict is over, starts for home. While leaving the roof, another kid asks Riley if he's "got any cigawettes." Riley turns his head with a blank expression on his face. Notes * The final battle between Riley and Lamilton appears to be the first time in the series that Riley has single-handedly won a fight (although when Uncle Ruckus interrupted the fight he distracted Lamilton momentarily). * Throughout the episode, dozens of hints are given to Lamilton being a sociopath. In fact, Lamilton's personality is very applicable to the definition of a sociopath. * Throughout the episode, Lamilton's name is sung in the style of a dramatic chant, a la The Omen. Cultural references * Lamilton Taeshawn is a spoof on 7-year-old Latarian Milton, whose run-ins with the law in ** Latarian Milton went on a driving spree in his grandmother's SUV, then beat his grandmother over fried chicken; both of these antics occur in the episode. ** The episode's title "Smokin With Cigarettes" comes from a quote from Latarian Milton in an interview, in which he said "...and he smokes with cigarettes". This is also referenced frequently throughout the episode. ** The promo for this episode says "it's fun to do bad things", a quote from the same interview. * The interview at the beginning is a parody of The Ring. * The interview involving the "chicken wing" scene can be found on the internet.2 * The film that Riley and Lamilton are watching which shows a clown with red hair and a manevolient smile violently killing people appers to be a parody of It. * Dr. Doomis is a reference to Dr. Sam Loomis from the Halloween franchise. The conversation between Dr. Doomis, Huey, and Granddad is almost identical to the one that Dr. Loomis has with Sheriff Leigh Brackett in the original Halloween movie. Frequently music similar to the theme from the Halloween franchise is played when Lamilton is on screen. * The fight scene on the roof bears striking similarity to the final fight in Juice, and is most likely an homage. * During the fight scene with Riley and Lamilton, the song (presumably by Metaphor The Great) playing in the background has a beat similar to Eric B. & Rakim's hit song, "Know the Ledge", which was made for the movie Juice which is frequently referenced in this episode. ** When Lamilton confronts Riley at his locker, this scene mirrors Bishop intimidating Q with a gun at school. ** When Riley throws Lamilton's gun off the edge of the school, it is similar to when Q throws the gun into the river **Earlier in the episode and in the promo, the statement of "Who's got the juice" pays homage to the title of the movie. ** In the final boss fight in the video game Bully Jimmy fights Gary in the rooftop of a school just like Riley fights Lamilton in the school rooftop. **When Lamilton kills the dog, he claims, "It jumped at me", similar to Bishop when he killed Raheem. ** The ending mirrors the similar scene from Juice with Riley having someone say the phrase "you got a cigarette" in the manner Q was told "you got the juice now" at the end of the movie. * Part of the episode deals with similar elements from the movie The Good Son starring Macaulay Culkin as a mentally disturbed boy, Henry, who engages in several similar activities that Lamilton does like smoking, stealing things, pulling pranks, causing a massive car pile up, and killing a chained up guard dog, and like Riley he tries to get his cousin Mark played by Elijah Wood to be like him. * Lamilton's mugshot indicates that his police identification number is "0666" in reference to the number of the devil. * After Lamilton assaults his grandmother in the local Walli-Mart, (a parody of Wal-Mart), they are both interviewed by a news reporter in front of the Walli-Mart. The front of the Walli-Mart can be seen with the words "We Work For Less", (a parody of their tag line "More For Less"). Critical reception Leonard Pierce of The A.V. Club graded the episode a B-, complimenting some good gags and the artwork, but noted that the tone was very uneven and it lacked a clear message, ultimately calling it a "stumble in what's otherwise been an excellent season."3